14/1/13 - Possible NPC response system

In this post I will try to explain the core idea behind my prospective final piece.

In my proposal I outlined the method of getting to the quality each individual animation would need and figuring out what animations would be needed but I didn't say what would be the framework for my final character because it's quite hard to come up with something solid. It's all very well me saying I'm going to come up with a system of animating a more credible NPC but unless I actually manage to think of one, the idea isn't all that great.

Fortunately I have come up with a possible idea that I will hopefully outline as clearly as I can here so that I can refer back to it also I hope in actually writing it in a blog post I'll be able to explain the whole idea a little more clearly when I talk to my supervisor about it.

Here we go...

The whole system has sprung loosely from the concept of a character sheet that you might use during a  table top role playing game like the one here...

Table top role-play character sheet

A players character sheet changes as the game develops, new traits and skills are added based on the players experiences until at the end of the game the character will have evolved into a fully formed character.

An NPC, especially one who is seen repeatedly throughout a game is usually expected to already be a fully formed character so that they can be used to drive the main plot. This would most likely be in the shape of a character bio.

What I would propose for the animations of an NPC would be, in affect, like adding an extra couple of sections to its character sheet which deal specifically with its relationship with the player. 

  The first would be a section dedicated to the character's opinion of the player (positive to negative) possibly resulting in some sort of score that would influence the second part.

This would be decided by a series of factors which is based off of research done in the past semester. But according to my blog I never wrote them down digitally, so here they are. (with a brief example indicating why they are important to consider)

• NPC personality

The personality of a character is the most obvious factor to consider. A character who is generally untrusting will take a longer time to act in a positive manner towards a player alternatively a character who has a loyal personality trait might be able to put up with more negative interactions from the player before their reactions turn negative. Also prejudices that the NPC may have will be included into this category.

• Past experience

This is past experience that the NPC has of the player not the players character. An example of this would be if the player stole or destroyed a shop, the NPC would have a completely negative opinion of the player the next time they encountered one another. 

• Relationship

An example of this is Roman in GTA 4, Roman is the main characters cousin and so in theory the family ties should make him forgive negative behaviour from the player much more easily making it much harder to gain negative responses. Another example could be the NPCs you can marry in Skyrim, you have to work to get them to agree and so the bond you build up in the process should make it more difficult for them to react badly towards you... with a limit.

• Reputation

This applies mainly to characters you've never met before in the game world. This is best demonstrated by Fable's approach, your actions in the game world as a whole begin to give you a reputation. So if you destroy a town maybe all NPCs in nearby towns would have a more negative attitude towards you meaning you as the player would need to work harder to gain their trust and towns a little further away might be wary of you to a lesser extent . If you destroy many towns maybe your reputation would spread to an even larger area. Reputation of the race of the character could be taken into account here.

• Environmental Context

The environment could make a massive difference to how an NPC should react. For example if a guard sees you draw a sword outside a castle this might not affect their reactions whereas inside a city they may become more wary and inside a palace cause an even stronger negative reaction in defence of their monarchy.

Maybe to begin with this section could start out with a rating of 0 then positive points give a +1 and negative a -1.

 Baring this in mind, the second would be how that character would react to certain types of interactions. A list of common interactions would be drawn up such as minor (brushing past) and major (punching or kicking) physical reactions as is being tested at the moment. These would have a Likert scale next to them and using the characters personality and the factors discussed above one of these animations would be chosen to be most appropriate.

Example
NPC: Ulfric Stormcloak, Skyrim (character bio http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Ulfric_Stormcloak)
Player Character: Khajiit
Setting: Ulfric's palace
Action: Brush past

NPC personality

• He has a history of being quite racist against non nords -1

Past Experiences

• None

Relationship 

• None

Reputation

• Khajiit are thought to be thieves and untrustworthy -1

Environment

• could be taken more negatively as done within his own palace -1
• could feel more relaxed due to heavily guarded surroundings +1

After the first section there is a score of -2 which i can only assume is a relatively mild negative.

Brushing past could be considered a minor physical interaction so it could start as a neutral response of 4 on a likert scale of 7

I will have to look further into what number will influence the change in category but for now it seems like in this situation it would probably be taken fairly negatively but not too badly so could only result in a rating of 3
Meaning Ulfric would comment negatively.

Note: I'll have to mention why I've chosen 7 options for this instead of 5 when i continue with the Fight or Flight posts. There is a reason.

Pros and Cons so far discovered 

Pros

• A single library for all characters of that type.
• More credible performance.
• Useable on many different characters.

Cons

• would need a separate library for women, larger characters male and female, children would need an entirely different set of rules.